This application is for the continuation of the existing Partnership beWveen Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), Tuskegee University (TU), and the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center (UABCCC). The Partnership, located in the heart ofthe Southeast, a region with a large, historically underserved African American population, has goals of attaining excellence in research focused on the basis of cancer health disparities and on reducing the cancer burden. All three institutions, w/hich are assisting underserved communities, possess unique strengths that supplement each other. The primary objectives are to maintain progress in establishing productive cancer research programs at MSM and TU and to persist in developing a pipeline of prospective minority investigators at TU. The Partnership has three Cores (Administrative, Planning & Evaluation, and Developmental). Within the Developmental Core, there are four Research Programs and two Shared Resources (Bioethics and Biostatistics). With the Research Programs, the Partnership will continue: 1) to tap the pool of talented students and faculty at MSM and TU through the Research Training and Career Development (RTCD) Program, linking them to established Investigators and to the research infrastructure at the UABCCC; 2) to promote a Developmental Research (DR) Program, which provides funding for research projects; 3) to encourage graduate and undergraduate students across various scientific disciplines to pursue careers in the biosciences through our Cancer Education Program and to provide a pipeline into our RTCD and DR Programs; and 4) to promote cancer awareness and healthy lifestyles among our underserved populations and increase minority participation in therapeutic clinical trails our established Community Outreach Program. The Bioethics Shared Resource promotes and ensures adherence to bioethical principles and addresses ethical considerations in relationships among our institutions and between institutions and communities. The Biostatistics Shared Resource maintains statistical support to all programs. The Partnership will continue to demonstrate its enhanced capability to conduct research on cancer health disparities.